Croatia

"People may think that I'm mad, but I honestly believe that we are able to fight for the [European] title," said Slaven Bilic a couple of days ago, and given the fact that only 7,000 people attended the Maksimir on Wednesday night it is obvious that the public is not sharing his expectations. Performances in qualifiers were poor, but they restored their ambitions after great displays in a play-off win against Turkey. But now Croatia are back on earth with a thud. Bilic picked the exact same squad and 4-4-2 system, but they failed to produce even decent resistance to the Swedes. Even though the display was horrible, don't expect big changes in the Euros squad – the selection is limited and Bilic will have to try to make the best out of what he already have. Sasa Ibrulj

Czech Republic

Drew 1-1 against Ireland (a)

No one played particularly well in quite a slow-tempo game. Michal Bilek is very cautious when talking about the squad for the Euros and one game like this didn't shed much light on his decisions. However, there are a few certainties in the squad already - barring some injuries they should be Cech, Gebre Selassie, Sivok, Hubnik, Kadlec, Pilar, Rezek, Rosicky, Plasil, Jiracek, Hubschman and Baros.

In the case of Gebre Selassie (born Czech with an Ethiopian father, not naturalised Ethiopian as Sky Sports said) it is quite an achievement, because he only made his debut in the national side last year but has made steady progress and now has estabilished himself as the first choice right back. Jiracek is also irreplaceable; his performances and workmanlike attitude have earned him comparisons to Pavel Nedved. Pilar is quite a similar case, although he is replaceable.

There were some new or newish names in the team that faced Ireland, who put in a good performance and will make Bilek's deceisions more difficult. They were Frantisek Rajtoral at right back, David Limbersky (left back) and veteran Jiri Stajner, who is in the form of his life. In the short term, he could now be number one replacement for the often injured Tomas Rosicky.

Bilek's tactics had worked quite well at least until the game disintegrated into a blur of substitutions. It is now his default system to play 4-2-3-1 with fast wingers (Petrzela and Rezek), one brain of the team (normally Rosicky, this time Stajner) and two 'defensive' midfielders, among whom no one is exactly defensive. Jiracek is a box-to-box engine and Plasil is more a reader of the game and passer than a tackler.

In the end, after the substitutions, there was not enough cover of the defence by midfielders and a terrible individual mistake led to Ireland's equaliser. Overall, I think the Czechs were a better side. Michal Petrak

Denmark

Who needs Nicklas Bendtner? Well, Denmark do. "Nicklas Bendtner" may be the punch line in the joke "What do you get if you cross Emile Heskey with a megalomaniac?" but Wednesday's 2-0 defeat against Russia showed that the Danish national team are in trouble, if the Sunderland striker isn't fit and ready to cause chaos in the box. He did play 60 minutes but was clearly out of form because of the injury he suffered in January. Even though the Danes fielded the same team that beat Portugal 2-1 in the qualifiers the spirit was gone. The Russians were in total control during most of the game, and the Stoke goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen looked very poor, especially at the second goal. If scouts from Holland, Portugal or Germany showed up at the Parken, they will know that an easy way to make the Danes quiver is pressing the back four. So who needs Nicklas Bendtner? We, Denmark, do indeed. Thomas Lund Hansen

England

We saw the good, bad and the ugly at Wembley last night. England's resilience to come from back 2-0 down was contrasted by the naive defending for Arjen Robben's two goals, and the image of Chris Smalling being carried off the pitch on a stretcher. Despite being beaten by a technically superior team, Stuart Pearce can admire the effort of an England side that put in a spirited performance, epitomised by the display of the captain, Scott Parker, whose approach gave credence to Pearce's decision. However, it was a display that left us with more questions than answers. It may be time for the wise old heads of Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard and John Terry to once again prove the value of their experience and guide those with less international pedigree. James Hilsum

France

Laurent Blanc has been playing down France's chances ever since he took over following the World Cup fiasco but it's getting harder to take him seriously. The 2-1 win over an admittedly under-strength Germany extended Les Bleus' unbeaten run to 18 games – which includes wins over England, 2-1, and Brazil, 1-0 – but more importantly settled a few of his outstanding issues. The night's big winners were Hugo Lloris, confirmed as captain after 18 months of rotating the armband, Olivier Giroud, whose debut goal should seal his spot as back-up centre-forward to Karim Benzema, and the right-back Mathieu Debuchy, whose rampaging up the line and two assists could make it tricky for Bacary Sagna to get back in the side. "We've turned a corner," said the midfielder Yann M'Vila. It's hard to escape the feeling that things are falling into place just at the right time for France. Ben Lyttleton

Germany

Lost 2-1 against France (h)

Semi-finalists in 2006 and 2010. Finalists in 2008. Can Germany now go one step further, or will this exciting young team become the next "golden generation" to promise much but fail to deliver? With several key players missing, Wednesday night's defeat to France will not have dented the feeling that this is their best chance for a trophy since football briefly came home and then headed swiftly east across the North Sea. The next World Cup is in South America, always a fruitless hunting ground for European teams; by France 2016, Philip Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Lukas Podolski will be in their 30s. France offered a reminder on Wednesday that they are contenders, as did Holland, but in Germany all eyes are on the reigning champions. Many fans would enjoy defeating Poland on home soil in the quarters, and the whole country would relish doing battle with the Greeks somewhere other than Brussels. But the team has regained sufficient Selbstbewusstsein to look forward to meeting the holders in the final. Spain's defence and attack look weaker than two years ago; could this be Germany's opportunity to strike? Tim Woods

Greece

Drew 1-1 with Belgium (h)

Dimitris Salpingidis took advantage of some sloppy defending by Belgium to give Greece a ninth-minute lead but the home side had to settle for a draw after a lacklustre performance that disappointed Fernando Santos and the small crowd in Crete. Without really impressing themselves, Belgium were the better side in the first half after that early goal and deserved their equaliser – a diving header by Chadli after 32 minutes. Lombaerts saw a very strict red card 15 minutes into the second half and with heavy rain pouring there was little to get excited about in the last half an hour.

Fernando Santos stuck to his usual 4-3-3 formation giving Orestis Karnezis a start in his first national team call up. With very little competition the in form Panathinaikos goalkeeper has good chances of becoming the No1 choice for Euro 2012. Kaiserslautern's Fortounis also earned his first cap.

The Portuguese manager was clearly not happy with the performance and highlighted his side's inability to create chances. Nevertheless, he expressed his confidence that his side can improve in the 20-day training camp just before the final tournament, indirectly acknowledging the lack of commitment shown by his players in Wednesday's friendly.

Santos told the press there is a group of 30-35 players out of which he will select his 23-man squad but did not want to comment on his contract issue. This is currently the main talking point in the Greek camp as Santos hinted last week that he may not accept the Greek FA's offer and renew his contract, which expires this summer.

After replacing Otto Rehhagel less than two years ago, Santos has managed to break the German's unbeaten streak record of 15 games (Santos went unbeaten in his first 17 games, his overall record is now W10-D8-L1), leading Greece to first place in their Euro qualifying group. Everybody thought he would also guide Greece in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers as well but his comments in a press conference last week have resulted to increased speculation that he is seriously considering an immediate return to club football management. @greekfooty

Holland

Won 3-2 against England (a)

Arjen Robben took the Oranje to a victory with two fantastic goals. The Bayern Munich winger was the one player who impressed, unlike the rest of the Dutch squad. Once again the Dutch defence was fragile, especially in the centre where Joris Mathijsen and Johnny Heitinga just could not seem to cope with players such as Daniel Sturridge and Ashley Young. Still, it is not every day you win at Wembley and the Holland coach, Bert van Marwijk, was satisfied with the way his team played. "We wanted to go back to the stable football we played at the World Cup. We chose a more defensive strategy so we wouldn't play the offensive football we played against Germany last time. It worked," he said. Jens van Pieterson

Italy

Lost 1-0 against USA (h)

The 1-0 defeat against the USA confirmed that Italy have problems in the centre of their defence, just look at Clint Dempsey's goal. Barzagli, who is not Cannavaro or Nesta, is arguably the best option to pair up with Chiellini right now considering the struggles of Ranocchia and Bonucci with their clubs, which forced Prandelli to field Ogbonna, who plays in Serie B. Abate was confirmed to be a good cover for Maggio, who has been running up and down the right flank all season for Napoli. Montolivo was better than Thiago Motta behind the forwards despite his troubled season at Fiorentina. In attack youngster Borini was the only light after coming in as a substitute. Hoping to have Giuseppe Rossi back – more difficultly Cassano – I think Balotelli will go to the Euros even if he sets fire to Prandelli's house. Paolo Menicucci

Poland

Drew 0-0 with Portugal (h)

We learned that the Polish one-man forward line is pretty much nonexistent when Robert Lewandowski is not playing. He sat out the game injured. Ireneusz Jelen of Lille played instead of him and showed why he's warming the bench in France. He has scored only one goal this season. Meanwhile, the National Stadium in Warsaw opened at long last – 100 days before the first Euro game. Mobiles didn't work in the press section and there was no web access there, but I guess those are minor annoyances. Also, why Sebastian Boenisch of Werder Bremen was called up is beyond me. He didn't play competitive football for something approaching 18 months as he was injured and yet he appeared as a late sub on Wednesday. The only explanation is that we are trying to show the Germans something – they have "taken" Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose off us, so now we're "taking" Boenisch, who has played for German youth national sides. Maciej Slominski (www.futbolnet.pl)

Portugal

Drew 0-0 with Poland (a)

One thing is clear: Paulo Bento is not a coach overburdened with choices. Eduardo's fall from grace, the controversial departures of Ricardo Carvalho and José Bosingwa from the international arena, and the singular talents of Cristiano Ronaldo will ensure (injury permitting) that a near-identical eleven to the one that lined up for Wednesday's uneventful 0-0 draw in Warsaw will do so against Germany on 9 June. Wednesday saw Portugal continue a proud tradition of unwillingly toying with theoretically inferior opposition. Poland were well-drilled, but slight improvements in tempo and cutting edge would have placed the Seleção in control by half-time. Under Bento, Portugal have tended to produce when it truly matters – the collective hope will be that the trend continues this summer. Ben Shave

Republic of Ireland

Experiment is not a word that has made its way into Giovanni Trapattoni's chaotic use of the English language. With the exception of two enforced absentees, Ireland started this friendly with the Czechs with what is likely to be their starting XI for the opener with Croatia in Poznan. In so far as experimentation was on the agenda, Robbie Keane was asked to play a deeper playmaker's role – Trap drew a pre-game comparison with Francesco Totti – but Keane quickly realised there was very little play to make and reverted to his usual role trying to find openings behind the defence.

The second-half substitutions made a difference to Ireland but by that stage they trailed to Milan Baros's goal and the defensive shambles that led to that strike is likely to be the most pressing matter on Trapattoni's mind. Simon Cox and Jonathan Walters impressed from the bench – Cox in particular, as emphasised by his fine equaliser – while James McClean was given a reception akin to a proven world-beater making a long-awaited return rather than a teenager who has played just a handful of Premier League games. The Sunderland winger looked lively in the short time he was on the field, but may discover that if he is to find favour with Trapattoni he may need to stop trying to take on opponents in his own half. Evan Fanning

Russia

While others are trying to find a settled lineup, Russia's problem is more to find a way of shaking theirs up. This is still the 4-3-3 of Euro 2008, with many of the same personnel, although Alexander Kerzhakov's re-emergence as the first-choice centre-forward gives them a more fluid front three than they had then. Andriy Arshavin's form on the left remains a worry, but the youthful Alan Dzagoev on the right is beginning to look at home at international level. And then there is Roman Shirokov, in great form for Zenit, who gives the threat of goals from midfield, as he showed in scoring in Wednesday's 2-0 win in Denmark. Jonathan Wilson

Spain

Won 5-0 against Venezuela (h)

Fernando Torres's days as Spain striker may just be nearing their definitive end. He scored the goal that won them the European Championship in 2008 but his chances of even going to the tournament four years later took a major blow in Málaga. Spain were wonderful in a 5-0 victory, playing with invention and variety, Cesc Fábregas and David Silva particularly sparkling. But it was the man who replaced Torres who was the star. Roberto Soldado finally got a Spain call-up – he played twice in 2007 but hadn't returned since – in place of Torres. Forty-five minutes, he got. Forty-five minutes and three goals. And that's despite missing a penalty. Sid Lowe

Sweden

Won 3-1 against Croatia (a)

The win in Croatia was just the fillip Sweden needed after losing Celtic's Daniel Majstorovic to a cruciate ligament injury the day before the game. Zlatan Ibrahimovic was the key behind the successful result in Zagreb, playing in a new role behind the lone striker Johan Elmander. Ibrahimovic scored from the spot and set up Sebastian Larsson for the other two goals. "Zlatan king in his new role" was just one of the positive headlines in Sweden on Thursday morning, as the Swedish press also celebrated the debut of John Guidetti, the Manchester City striker who is on loan at Feyenoord this season. "This was easier than I thought," the 19-year-old said afterwards. Marcus Christenson

Ukraine

Won 3-2 against Israel (a)

The co-hosts continued their positive momentum with a 3-2 away win over Israel on Wednesday – that means their last five matches have brought four victories and a valiant draw with Germany. Manager Oleg Blokhin used the match in Israel to experiment with a different formation, playing a fluent 4-4-2 in the first half before reverting to his usual 4-2-1-3 in the second. The side looked far more comfortable in the former set-up, meaning Blokhin has a tactical conundrum to resolve ahead of the country's next outing.

• This article was amended on 2 March 2012 to remove a contribution from Ukraine, because it was brought to our attention that the author has a history of postings on social media that contravene Guardian guidelines. This article was also amended because the original said selbstbewusst. This has been corrected.